Kidney racket: Raids to be conducted in Delhi, UP

A day after seizing the records from National Kidney Hospital on Saturday, the city police would conduct raids in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir over the next six days to nab recipients and donors of kidneys involved into racket that was busted on July 31.

A day after seizing the records from National Kidney Hospital on Saturday, the city police would conduct raids in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir over the next six days to nab recipients and donors of kidneys involved into racket that was busted on July 31.

The City Police have sought ten-day remand of the five accused - including kingpin Junaid Ahmed Khan, Kuldeep Kumar of Faridabad in Haryana, Sabur Ahmed Khan, Vardan Chander Rao of Lucknow and Harminder Lal of Raheempur village from the district, but the court only granted six-day police custody.

With the interrogation of Harminder Lal, who was working with Sunder Lab, a collection centre of the Dr Lal Path Lab, on Garha Road in the city, the police claim to have collected vital leads that point to the involvement of several high-profile people in the racket.

Police have accused Lal of meddling with blood samples to match the DNA of donors with the recipients before surgery to fulfill one of the mandatory guidelines that only blood relatives or a spouse could donate the organ. He was reportedly paid `1 lakh by the kingpin of the gang for successfully changing a single sample.

Sources in the police added that one of the accused Vardan Chander Rao's surgery was planned in a renowned hospital in the city near Rama Mandi for which he would receive rs 3 lakh; the total deal with the recipient had been finalised at `15 lakh. However, before the deal could go through, the racket was busted.

It is now also claimed, according to sources, that the hospital has been spared a raid with the owners and doctors managing to pull some strings.

Interestingly, for reasons of its own, the City Police indulged in a game of 'hide and seek' with the media and produced all five accused at the house of duty magistrate at around 7:45 pm, where the six-day remand was granted. This was after reporters were informed that the accused would be produced in court at the judicial complex around 4pm.

On Saturday, police commissioner Yurinder Singh Hayer had formed a special investigation team (SIT) that will headed by DCP Rajinder Singh while additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP) (investigation) J Elanchezhian, ADCP-II Amrik Singh Pawar, assistant commissioner of police (Model Town) BIS Kahlon and SHO Navdeep Singh also form part of the SIT.